Lenovo ThinkPad 10 Review and Ratings

Editors’ Rating:

Our Verdict:
With a nice screen and a slew of accessories, Lenovo's ThinkPad 10 is a versatile Windows tablet with great battery life. But its design feels uneven, and once you start adding accessories like a keyboard and dock, it quickly becomes pricey for its Atom-class performance. Read More…

What We Liked…

First-rate display

Light weight

Long battery life

Lots of available accessories

What We Didn’t…

Only one USB port

Only 2GB of RAM, despite a 64-bit-capable CPU

No slot for the pen unless you purchase the keyboard

Performance could be better

Lenovo ThinkPad 10 Review

Table of Contents

Introduction & Design

Lenovo arguably has more experience producing productivity-focused tablets than anyone. In recent years, we've seen the Android-based ThinkPad Tablet and its Windows 8 sequel, the ThinkPad Tablet 2. Then there was the versatile (though expensive) ThinkPad Helix, followed this spring by the ThinkPad 8.

The ThinkPad 10, which we're looking at here, is the larger sibling of the last, with a nice 10.1-inch (1,920x1,200) display, an included stylus, and oodles of available accessories. Much like Microsoft's Surface Pro 3 or Dell's Venue 11 Pro, you can outfit the ThinkPad 10 with a cover, a ruggedized case, a keyboard, or a desktop dock that adds USB 3.0 ports, Ethernet, and HDMI-out.

At $599 with an Intel Atom Z3795 processor, 2GB of RAM, and 64GB of internal storage, the tablet alone isn't overly expensive. It's also fairly light at 1.3 pounds.

But start adding accessories (the keyboard is $120, and doesn't add any ports), and things get expensive quickly for what amounts to a low-powered convertible. And the keyboard isn't likely to please diehard ThinkPad enthusiasts, with its too-sensitive (and too-small) touch pad and the absence of the iconic TrackPoint. The keyboard also supports or props up the tablet at only one angle, which can be a pain when typing in your lap or trying to avoid glare from overhead lights or the sun.

Design

The ThinkPad 10 doesn't veer far from the basic black aesthetics of most ThinkPad devices. The back is a bit slippery, but it is metal, so it doesn't feel flimsy or cheap.

The design is a bit odd, however, as Lenovo chose to make the top corners (when holding the slate in landscape mode) rounded, while the lower edge is flat, to facilitate docking with the keyboard. This makes the tablet feel uneven, especially if you're holding it in portrait orientation. Likewise, the company chose to hide ports on either side behind doors, ostensibly to make the tablet look better and feel sleeker in your hands. But again, the entire bottom (or right side, depending on orientation) is open, with an exposed dock connector, metal contacts, and holes for plastic anchors.

So capping the ports doesn't really do much good for aesthetics. And for a tablet that's designed for productivity, sticking the sole (full-sized) USB port behind a door (on the left edge) is an odd choice.

Aside from the USB 2.0 port, there's also a MicroSD slot for adding storage, as well as a SIM card slot (on some models) for cellular data. A Micro HDMI port lives on the right edge, for connecting to an external monitor without the desktop dock.

The left edge also houses a proprietary charging port. On the one hand, this is less convenient than many other tablets, which charge over MicroUSB. But it does free up the tablet's USB port, so you can charge and plug in peripherals at the same time.